Rainy Lake Dock Fishing Adventures

Jim Dingle (back to us) Pat Bracken with northern pike.

My wife Cathie, son Joey, and daughter Rachel, and I took a boat ride over to see our friends Kathy and Pat Bracken, Jim and Janet Dingle and Allan Rasmussen. When we arrived the guys were in full dock fishing mode. Pat and Kathy have lived in Geneva, Switzerland for a number of years. This was Pat's first time here for spring "dock fishing".

I looked at there setup and kind of snickered. They had the lines out and the bobbers were floating high. The rods were shoved into the dock rings rod tip first. I thought "they will never get to set the hook with how long it will take to get the rod out of the dock rings. Sure enough the fish started biting and the misses started to mount; the bobbers would come back up by the time they retrieved the rod out of the dock ring. Allan did score  on nice walleyes.

I asked Pat "how come you have the rods stuck in the dock ring"? He smiled wide and proceeded to tell me he and Jim had the lines out and were checking them from up on the deck. They looked down and could not see one of the rods. Pat and Jim went down on the dock and saw the bobber about fifty feet out from the dock but no rod.  Pat consulted with his buddy Mitch Rapp by secure cell phone. Mitch suggested Pat put on a life jacket and take the kayak out and grab the bobber. Pat slid the kayak in the water and proceeded out to the bobber. The bobber went down when he was about ten feet away. Each time he tried to get close the bobber went down, in fact three times it went down. Pat left the secure cell on the dock; he decided to use his stealth training and use a highly super sneaky kayak maneuver. Pat secured the bobber ( navy seal training) and paddled back to the dock handing it off to Jim.

Pat got on the dock and Jim retrieved the line hand over hand getting the rod back. He kept hand over handing the line rather than reel the line in.  All of a sudden there is a tug. Jim kept hand over hand pulling line in and the the fish would pull it back out. Pat decided to get the net; Jim worked it close to the dock and Pat scooped it up in the net. Thirty seven inch fish, what a dandy.

Pat did learn to be close at hand when dock fishing, he won't lose a rod or get a fine for an unattended
line!  

First Private Houseboat of Season Arrive!

Denny and Sandy Johnson were the first to arrive for the 2012 season. They arrived on Tuesday May 8th. 

Denny and Sandy bought a SkipperLiner Houseboat from my mom and dad in 1983. The houseboat was #10 in Rainy Lake Houseboats fleet. They gave it the nickname "Perfect 10".  

Denny's first visit to Rainy Lake in 1964. He and fellow business associates stayed at Rainy Lake Lodge. There group went out with log time fishing guides Butch Lessard, Nick Franko,  Elmer Chovan, Joh Gusulak and Abbie Renollett. This was Abbie's first guide trip on Rainy Lake. Abbie passed away two years ago, he is fondly remembered by both clients and fellow guides.

Denny continued to fish Rainy Lake every year with friends Ray Henningson and Rod White. Soon after Paul Flyschacker joined the threesome. In 1983 they started a tradition with the "Rainy Lake 8". Denny, Ray, Paul, Bruce Palmer, Loren Heckman, Doug Heibisan, Frank Kuhn and Gene Schneider has fished continuously for 30 years, this will be there 31st. There are not many groups I know of that have fished for 30 consecutive years with out a change in the group, remarkable.

Denny and Sandy have moored there houseboat every summer since 1983 at Rainy Lake Houseboats private boat marina. Yesterday we had more arrivals, Carl and Jeanette Linquist, Tom and Toni Ebeling, Scott and Cheryl Weappa all arrived.  I think more may have been down on the dock, but I did not get all the way down.

 Tom Ebeling and Scott Weappa

 Cheryl Weappa

Carl Linquist

Denny, Sandy, and their son Brad are on there way up Rainy Lake for a week on the Perfect Ten as we speak. Good luck to all this weekend, enjoy your time and be safe!

We Are Getting Ready Just Add People!

April 6 just before ice out

As always things start happening fast when May 1st rolls around. We have been busy putting houseboats in the water. As most of you know Rainy Lake set an ice out record this year. However things are not as far ahead as one would think. When the ice went out the weather turned rainy, snowy and cool. Water temperatures and spawning are all progressing at normal occurying times of the year.

Our private marina

I went to Kettle Falls yesterday, the water temperature was 45.6 degrees in the Kettle River. Had a look at Squirrel Falls (the Canadien Dam) there were about twenty white pelicans feeding on spawning walleyes. As we cast for northern pike three different dead walleyes came floating down with the current. They had no visible signs of injury, I did not pick them up just looked at them closely.  The pelicans were frolicking in the shallow water pounding there heads into the water (after the walleyes?). They would fly out and mess with the floaters but not eat them. One of the stranger occurences I have seen in forty six years on Rainy Lake.

Tom Herzig with nice pike on the way home

Fishing should be good on the opener. The walleyes will hold in Kettle River for at least a couple of weeks. There is a good flow of current which always helps. The water in the bays is warmer. I found forty eight to fifty four degree water temperatures. Slip bobbers in the bays might be alot of fun. 

We will have this blog and another one dedicated to fishing and fishing reports . Our season is looking very good. Reservations are stll coming in; there are good openings available. We have some availability in May you can check out the spring rates and call for availability. I am looking for one of the best spring fishing seasons in a long time and we have had some good ones!

Water levels are normal for this time of the year. It  sure looks like everything will be great with water levels all year.

                                     

Houseboats waiting for Sandy Harju our head of housekeeping!